Worshipped
by puppy-on-crack
Summary: All prayers are heard. However, not all are heard by the person you expect. Patrons are not chosen consciously. Tony Stark has chosen a Patron god and he doesn't even know it. Loki knows it though. After all, this is his first worshiper. When Loki appears on Earth under the directive of Thanos Tony is confronted by the god who answers his prayers. Now everything is different.
1. Chapter 1

Caio! Alright, here is the deal with this new story. It is going to be a long two-shot. I have not written the other part yet and I guarantee that it will take a while for that to come as well. That being said, I will try and finish it before this year ends.

I have not yet decided whether this will be a slash story. Feel free to comment and suggest what you think I should be. Seeing as the next chapter will undoubtedly include abuse, torture and other squiggly stuff I'm rating it pretty high just to be sure.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Tony supposed that it all started in college. He was fifteen, in his last year of college. He was quite unhappy. Mostly because this year he had to take a schedule full of electives so he could graduate and they all had to be liberal art or pseudo sciences. It was mind numbing shit and Tony wanted to be done with it more than anything he had ever done before.

For now he was trying to work on an assignment that was given in one of his philosophy/ religious study class. An essay explaining what you believe in. Tony was struggling. Not because he had to write an essay, Tony was quite good at that. Tony was a genius and a scientist. He had trouble believing in aliens, despite knowing that there is a scientific possibility for them. There was no way he was going to believe in a deity. Still, the teacher demanded that every person believes in something.

Tony ended up thinking about chemistry. While his engineering tended to turn towards mechanical, one did not build bombs without dabbling in a bit of chemistry. One lecture that stood out in his brilliant mid was entropy. The study of disorder. Of chaos.

That's how Tony began to worship chaos. Every chemist will tell you that the more chaos there is the more likely something is to be created. Engineers calculate it on a daily basis. It's one of the ways people explain the big bang theory. So to Tony, that was the closest thing to God that he would believe in.

He turned in his essay. Scraped a low A (points were taken for inappropriate language). He was quite content to forget about the revelation but it seemed to follow him around. Soon every time he was asked, his response was always,

"I believe in chaos."

O~~~~~~~~~~O

Far away in a distant realm sat a dark prince in a golden hall completely unaware of the genius and his essay. The dark hair male sighed as he took in the golden hall filled with golden people. Loki hated feasts, and who wouldn't? It was loud and rude, full of men boasting of past victories with mouths filled to the brim with some unidentifiable amount of meat. The women were no better as they spent the whole night gossiping and fawning over Thor and the other warriors. Loki had long learned that he shouldn't speak at these events. Enough heckling and disapproving looks whenever magic was mentioned stopped him.

The only bonus was he was sitting next to his mother. Whenever she could get a word in she would ask what he was learning. Loki would smile indulgently and explain to her the lighter magic he was learning. A majority of the night was spent listening to the gossip and planning out mischief.

Suddenly Loki felt something he had never felt before. It was as if someone had placed to electrodes at the base of his neck and made them pulse with electricity. It wasn't painful though. Like a thousand soft fingers massaging his brain. He suppressed a groan and tried not to pitch forward.

It took him far longer than he would like to admit but he soon realized what was happening, He was being worshiped! For the first time in centuries a person was worshiping and praying to him. Well, probably not directly to him. Mortals no longer followed the Norse religion.

After a concerned glance from his mother he excused himself from the table. Since no one really cared that he was there he bolted from the room and sprinted to his own bed. After lying down Loki reveled in this new feeling of pleasure. The intensity had died down but the feeling was still there, sitting in the back of his mind. Using his magic he felt for the specific life energy that came from the man, he could feel it was a man, who was worshiping. With a small smile he sent a tendril of magic to the person willing it to give his worshipper good luck.

The other gods may take those who pray to them for granted but Loki was going to protect the person who chose him.

O~~~~~~~~~~~~~O

Tony was no fool. He knew he was lucky. If he was inclined to believe in supernatural beings perhaps he would say that he had the favor of god. However he wasn't so inclined and he took it as he exceptional skill and lucky of the moment.

So much had happened. Accidents that were escaped with barely a scratch. Two assassination attempts that he managed to elude. Business meetings that were sure to end in disaster but instead ended up with contracts that shouldn't exist. Tony was a billionaire, play boy, weapons manufacturer who somehow managed to be well loved by the public. Yes, Tony was a lucky man and he knew it.

He was even lucky now, despite being in agony. Tony tried not to scream out in agony as he felt fingers digging into his chest. He smelt his skin burning as hot metal was pushed against the hole in his chest to stop him from bleeding out. It was agonizing, this sensory overload. Everything was too loud, the voices clamoring around him, the machines beeping and sizzling, his own voice even though it seemed to be muffled by something. Still, despite all the pain he supposed he had to be thankful he was still alive.

And as Tony passed out in a dark cave in the middle of Afghanistan he prayed that any being who would care to listen would save him.

O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O

Loki loved his worshipper. So much so that it was noticeable to the other gods. He hadn't told anyone that he had a worshipper but his brother, who was quick to dismiss it as a joke. Still, over the next few decades Loki seemed to calm. He was less abrasive and his pranks were less painful and more fun.

He spent a lot of time pushing luck at his worshipper. Pushing good feelings and confidence at him. He would sit in the fields looking at the sky as he felt for that bond. Loki would push his magic along that strand that tied them and allow it to help where it could.

He heard every prayer even if it wasn't directed exactly to him. Every since the first prayer he heard everything. Every little hope, prayer, wish and silent beg. He felt the little things that his worshipper was hoping for. His head felt heavy when he felt his worshipper being sad or depressed. At those times he would allow his magic to envelope the man and push a happy thought or the feeling of a hug. He would sigh a little as the light tingle of happiness would flow back through the bond.

Then there was something very different. A cacophony of sounds clattered around in his head. So much so that when he yelled out, the guards, who were watching him in his confinement after a prank gone wrong, came to investigate. In the end they dismissed it easily and left Loki to grip his hair tightly as he tried to make sense of what was going on.

His worshipper was dying. He could hear the pleading. Begging for a god, any god to free him from the agony. The pain that filtered through the bond was staggering. Loki groaned as he tried to block it of so he could concentrate. Being locked up came with the additional gift of a forced drain on his magic. It was risky on a day where he had full power to change something of this magnitude but if he did it now there is a possibility that he would die from the exertion.

With a little grimace Loki sat on the floor of his cell and crossed his legs. Resting his hands on his knees he took a deep breath and focused on his magic. It was risky but definitely worth it, he decided. Loki did not want to go back to the eternal loneliness that was being without a worshipper. Being without love and hope. Without the joy that comes from helping someone and feeling the appreciation.

O~~~~~~~~~~~~~O

Tony was sure that he was hallucinating. How could he not be? He knew he was in his cave. He had been flitting in and out of consciousness for what felt like days. Moments awake were horrible. Sleep wasn't much better because his dreams were filled with premonitions of death.

This time, something was different. He felt something. Much like a hand being placed on his forehead and putting a little bit of pressure on it. But when he opened his eyes there was nothing in the dim light before him. Warmth seeped from the nonexistent hand. He could feel his body relaxing a bit. Hope came back from where it was hiding and death seemed to recede. Then a voice spoke to him. It was deep and refreshing and seemed to have a shine to it (adding into the idea that it was a hallucination). It flowed over him and Tony swore he was being washed in mercury.

"Strength. You must hold onto your strength. You can make it out of here. You will survive. Survive my Drengr."

After that Tony did fall asleep. When he woke there was a man sitting beside him, a bowl of food in his hand and a car battery next to him. Tony groaned when he saw the hole in his chest and the mess of scars that now littered his frame.

Tony stayed silent when he was told how lucky he was to survive and how god must love him. Silently Tony agreed but he never said anything. Not to the man who quickly became his friend in neither the grungy cave nor when he escaped and came back a reigning hero. After time had passed he became even more sure that it was a trick of the imagination. However he relished the memory as a precious secret and fell back into his life as Tony Stark and the wonderful Iron Man.

O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O

Loki almost died.

After he healed his worshipper as much as he could Loki allowed the darkness of sleep over take him. When he woke he was no longer in his cell but in the healing room of the palace. His mother sat beside him. She said that the guards had found him, just on the cusp of death on the floor. Odin apologized (through his wife) for taking so much of his magic and nearly killing him. Loki brushed it off but allowed them to think that was the reason he collapsed. He would just be mocked in Asgard for risking his life for one lowly mortal.

It took him months to recover. His magic stubbornly staying just out of his reach. Though every time he felt the light presence of his worshipper he would smile and be glad that he did it. That feeling was the only reason that he survived the years to come.

Thor's would-be coronation, the fight with the Jotun, the reveal of his real heritage, falling from the bifrost and landing in the palms of Thanos. It was enough to break anybody and it did break him in the end. His resentment and anger towards Asgard prompted him to take the staff that warped his mind. The tesseract was not a power that anyone could use without losing a part of their own will. When Thanos handed him the staff he knew that he was no longer his own person.

Then he was told that he would take and exterminate earth. For the first time since taking the staff he hesitated. A moment he paused because despite the mind altering power in his hands the feeling of his worshipper kept him from going completely mad. For a brief time Loki was able to use his infamous silver tongue to convince Thanos not to exterminate earth but enslave it instead. Believing that the staff was forcing him to be loyal the mad Titan agreed.

Maybe this time Loki could save his worshipper, once again.

O~~~~~~~~~~~~O

Tony never put much thought into his capture and trip into becoming Iron Man. He really only thought about it when nightmares and flashbacks forced him to. So he didn't often think of the mysterious voice that pulled him from the brink of death. Instead he drank and invented. He spent his extra time in weird acts of philanthropy and trying to maintaining his on-again/off-again relationship with Pepper. They were currently off right now, over something really silly Tony couldn't remember.

However, Tony wasn't thinking about any of this as he flew over Germany. JARVIS had just told him that the Avengers had been called to take care of a _god_ who crashed a fancy party. Why in the world would he pass that up? With a smirk he urged his suit to go faster. He didn't want to be later for this party.

O~~~~~~~~~~~~~O

Loki was in heaven. He stood on the steps of a great hall in full regalia and was having a spar of words with Captain America. He enjoyed this far more than he let on. In Asgard he would have been immediately struck, no trying to convince him what he was doing was wrong. Then this mortal appears having jumped from a plane and he asks for surrender and then peace. He gladly accepted the change, enjoying the little blows he shot at the man who stood so strong in his beliefs.

He raised an eyebrow as a flash of red and gold stopped him from raising his staff and striking down the righteous man. The Captain seemed startled at the assistance and almost immediately started to yell at the metal man. He chuckled as the man tried to dismiss him and the mechanical voice quipped back. He heard the Captain call the man Stark and assumed that it was the man Iron Man that he had been told of by the archer.

While he let the man bicker in front of him Loki felt the warmth of prayer wash over him. This time it was different though. It was stronger and clearer. Instead of maybe a few words and the general air of what the prayer was about it was full sentences. It hit him heavy and he nearly moaned at the odd pleasure.

 _I wish Cap would just shut up so I could kick this god's ass._

Loki's eye flew open in surprise. With a startled look that made the kneeling humans very nervous he gazed piercingly at Iron Man. He gripped his staff harshly and strode over to the arguing hero's. The movement and subsequent gasp of the crowd made them look in his direction.

"You." Loki gestured to Stark. "Remove your face plate." He demanded.

"I'm not that stupid reindeer games . . . Why?" Stark asked, curiosity over whelming.

"Because if you are who I think you are then I will lay down my staff this very moment and surrender to you. Only if you are the one I am looking for." Loki smirked. If nothing else, the stunned faces of those around him were worth the moment of weakness. He could feel the tesseract trying to force him into killing them both and moving on with his plan. His will could not be swayed though.

There was a heavy silence as the man considered the statement. Then with an almost ominous whir the masked went up and revealed his face. There was surprise in his heavy brown eyes.

Loki stared in wonder as the man before him seemed to glow, something he had not been able to see with the mask down. This was him, his worshipper. The ones who prayers he has been hearing for decades. He doesn't move his gaze until there is an awkward cough from the captain.

"Tell your warrior lady to land her craft." Loki said dismissively, thrusting the spear at Captain America, horizontally though so it wasn't seen as a threat. With shaking hands the man did, trying very hard to still his confusion. Loki turned back to Stark and quirked an eyebrow and was rewarded with a smirk in return.

"Put them away Captain." Loki sneered, glancing down at the cuffs that appeared in the man's hands. "I told you that I would surrender willingly and handed over my weapon. It doesn't mean that I will allow you to bind me."

"Just leave it Cap. . . Follow me, I have a few questions." Tony motioned for him to follow onto the lowered platform of the aircraft.

"You can have answers to your question in time. However, I do not wish to speak on it." Loki sat down delicately on a seat. After a moment he decided to strap himself in. A look in the cock pit showed a red headed woman who was glaring in his direction. The partner of the bowman he assumed.

The cock pit rang with its silence as they took off and were brought to another location Loki did not know. The woman was staring into the night sky, flexing her fingers angrily on the shift. The captain looked as if he wanted to speak but didn't say anything. Instead he turned around and went to sit with the woman. His worshipper sat directly across from. He let the man stare at him quizzically. He knew the man was a problem solver and he was sure that he enjoyed trying to figure out this new puzzle. Deciding to entertain him, Loki willed an apple into his hand and set about throwing it into the air and catching it.

Loki tried not to smirk as the man, 'Tony' his mind supplemented, followed the fruit with his eyes. The warm brown eyes trying to figure out if the apple was as solid as it looks. With a small chuckle Loki lobbed it as his worshipper. With a surprisingly delicate grip the metal hands caught the apple without bruising it. After a quick glance in his direction the man bit into the apple. The moan that followed was accompanied as a rush of pleasure through the bond. Loki was just about to say something when a clap of thunder seemed to shake the entire aircraft. Before he could blink the door was torn open and his neck was clasped in the large palm of his brother.

O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O

Tony moaned in pleasure as he bit into the apple. He was sure there was never an apple that tasted so good on all of earth. Perhaps it was because it was made out of pure magic. The thrill of seeing the magic form into the fruit was just as amazing as its taste. As he nibbled he watched the god . . . alien . . . whatever smile at him. He looked a lot more pleasant now that he was in his suit and scarf rather than the horned monstrosity that was his helmet. Tony wouldn't deny that the entire battle armor get-up was a little bit arousing. Considering his old relationship with Pepper, it shouldn't surprise people he was attracted to powerful and dominating figures.

Tony was most stuck on why it was him that the man surrendered to. Honestly, he had all the power at that moment and could have escaped in seconds and did not need to be taken. Even through all the blurry memories that were the drunken nights of Tony Stark there was nothing that indicated the Tony had ever met the man. Even blind drunk Tony would have remembered someone like him. By all accounts he wasn't even from Earth and despite his ego; Tony was not the most powerful person on the planet. Close, he thought with a little smirk, but not the most. He straitened when he noticed the thin lips opening to say something.

A large rush of wind and Tony was staring at an empty seat. His face plate went down and the cameras saw the sweep of a red cloak flying away from their ship. With a growl Tony stood and allowed his suit to shift and mold so it would be able to fly.

"Tony you can't go after him. We don't know who took him." Steve shouted over the noise.

"Who ever it was took my prisoner. You don't take what is mine!"

"He wasn't your prisoner. He was the prisoner of SHEILD." Natasha said over the headset from her position of pilot.

"Hey. The dude surrendered to me. That makes him my prisoner. And I'm getting him back." With a little wave Tony jumped from the plane. With a little gasp he plummeted to the ground, grinning as he pulled up at the last moment. Even after all this time flying still made the adrenaline hum through his veins like a song. Using JARVIS he tracked the subject, finding them up on top of a mountain. Over the speakers he heard a snippet of their conversation.

"- can come back brother. I will speak to father. Please just come back." That was the blonde mountain of muscle that was holding Loki's face in a not brotherly way. He watched as he flew closer as Loki wrenched himself from his grip.

"He is no father of mine, no more than you are my brother! I will not go back to be punished."

"You listen well brother-" Tony barreled into the wall of muscle, pushing him nearly half a mile away from Loki into the dense woods below. Tony landed a few paces away from the blonde menace as he watched him stumble to his feet.

"Don't touch what is mine!" Tony yelled, catching the man's attention.

"This is not your business to interfere with metal man! You know not what you are dealing with!"

"Uh, Shakespeare in the Park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?" Tony wanted to pat himself on the back for that one.

"Give me my brother."

"When we are done with him you can have him back. Until then stay out of my way and don't touch my toys." Tony had to leap out of the way as the man swung his hammer. Barely missing him it rocketed into a tree and went all the way through the trunk. Well, apparently it would be good to avoid that. He quickly shot into the sky and aimed his repulsers at the man. They traded attacks and dodges. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Captain hit the ground and try to intervene.

A bolt of lightning caught him in the chest. He felt the electricity tingle across his skin and vaguely heard JARVIS telling him that he was now at 400 percent. With a smirk he shot the steroid version of Bob the builder. There was no small amount of satisfaction when the man flew farther than he had before. The shouting match continued, the caped man informing them that he was Thor and royalty to the highest degree. Tony snickered and told him exactly what he did to royalty (particularly princesses). Before the Captain could step in again Thor was swinging his hammer and Tony closed his eyes and hoped that the pain wouldn't be too much . . . The pain never came.

In front of him was Loki. He had his hand pressed on the giant hammer, holding it midway through it swing. His hand glowed a bright red as the metal of the hammer burned the pale skin. He snarled at his brother, who was frozen in shock.

"You will NOT touch him." Loki sneered. With a flick of his wrist the hammer swung to the ground to his left and hissed as the hot metal burned the ground at Loki's feet.

"Brother . . . You protect this mortal? He took you prisoner." Thor asked, staring at the now blistering palm.

"I was no prisoner of his Thor. I went with him willingly. " Loki sneered again. He stood protectively in front of Tony, despite the fact that while Tony was in his suit Loki stood the shortest out of them all. He glowered at Thor, daring him to move with his eyes.

"Loki, you cannot-" Thor started to say but he was stopped. A hand was raised and it was glowing ominously. Loki's eyes flashed dangerously and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he would not hesitate to hurt the man that was once his brother.

"You will not touch him Thor. I swear by Odin I will make every prank I have every pulled seem like a joke played by a babe. You will rue it should you lay a finger on him."

There was a heavy silence as the four men stared at each other. Tony had never had a weirder experience than the one he was having right now. That was saying quite a lot.

O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O

Loki was angry. In fact, he was more furious that he has been in a while. That imbecile Thor was going after a mortal like he would go after an Asgardian in a battle to the death. He forced Loki to intervene to stop the death of his worshipper. He was not joking when he said that he would make Thor feel every ounce of his wrath should he have actually hurt Tony. Unfortunately his interference was showing his hand and would no doubt become a bartering tool to the organization that was intent on capturing him before he had surrendered to Tony.

He huffed happily as Thor backed down. With a raised eyebrow he motioned to the airplane that had landed a safe distance away. With a little swagger he led the group back up into the belly of the craft and sat down delicately. He glared when Thor tried to sit next to him, sending him scuttling to a seat that was farther away.

The plane ride was silent and quick as they landed on a floating craft that Tony kindly informed him was a heli-carrier, though it meant nothing to him. He was greeted by the eye-patched man that reminded him too much of his father. With no protest he was led to a glass cage, much like the one he is locked in should a prank go bad on Asgard. For now he was being treated to a tedious tete-a-tete with the director Fury.

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me VERY desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

Yes it was very tedious indeed. Even the dull Captain was better at this than the Director. Still, he said his piece and was glad when the man left him, only to be guarded by a couple men with guns and the threat of a great fall.

Loki fell into the bed and let his eye drift close. On this planet he was so close to his worshipper he could feel a lot of the emotion that was flickering through his head. It was easy, from this close, to see how smart the man was. Each passing moment Loki was becoming more pleased with the man that chose to worship him, even if he did not choose directly.

It wasn't long until Loki was bored. He never did well with boredom. At least on Asgard when he was locked up he could tease the guards or use one of his many escape routes to have a night on the town in disguise. His plan was falling apart and as he spent more time away from the staff he could fell the power that had originally warped his mind starting to fade away.

Still, he was bored. He made a few balls appear and was taking a little bit of enjoyment in juggling them and doing tricks for the guards before his show was interrupted by a spike of anger and confusion through his bond. With a small smile he glanced up at the cameras.

"If you wish to find out more about me, you just need to ask." He said to the cameras. "Let me out and put me in the presence of the Man of Iron and I will answer every question . . . I will even return your bowman, free of harm." With that he laid back down and waited. It would not take them long to retrieve him.

O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O

Tony was being his usual self as he bounced around the conference room. He introduced himself to Banner, made fun of Fury's eye patch and pointed out the man playing video games. There was some small (read: large) amount of bickering of why Loki was here, what he wanted with the tesseract, whether they should torture the information out of him. Suddenly the mood shifted as they turned an accusing eye on Tony.

"My question is why he surrendered to Stark." Fury said, crossing his arms and waited for an answer. Tony smirked and kicked his feet on the table.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I've never seen him in my life and I'm sure I would have remembered that." He leered at the god who was on the screen, lying languidly on the bed with his eyes closed. "Regardless, I don't know why. Perhaps he knows perfection when he sees it."

"There must be something between you and my brother, Man of Iron. I have rarely seen him protect any one and never a mortal. My brother does not surrender, not for any one." Thor said in a matter-of-fact way that put Tony on edge. Something about the man put him off and he didn't know what.

"Doesn't matter now, does it? If he is with us then he isn't with the tesseract. As far as I'm concerned this is a win for me." Tony said, trying to steer the conversation in another direction. He glanced at the screen again and tried to contain a chuckle as he watched the god perform juggling tricks to the stoic guards, giving mocking bows and everything.

"Maybe he was here before. Stark could be lying." Natasha gave a sideways glance. "If Hawkeyes mind could be taken then Starks definitely could. He could be part of his plan."

Tony surged to his feet and slammed his hand on the table. This caused a tense silence in the room. Just as fast as the anger came, it faded leaving behind a cold, blank stare.

"I do not care what you feelings are for me _Natasha._ " He said sardonically. "But I did not help you only to be called a weak-minded traitor to my face. I know as much as you do about Loki's motives and how they relate to me. If you keep insulting me in this way I will leave. If I go you lose his compliance and your bartering chip." Tony growled before sitting down. Bruce cleared his throat lightly and drew their attention to the screen where Loki's bright green eyes were fixed directly at the lens.

"If you wish to find out more about me, you just need to ask." He said to the cameras. "Let me out and put me in the presence of the Man of Iron and I will answer every question . . . I will even return your bowman, free of harm." Fury snorted at the statement and went to turn off the screen.

"Director," Natasha stopped him before he did. "Perhaps we should allow it. If he is in here there are too many of us for him to take on alone while he is staff-less. If there is the chance that he would give Clint back willingly then I think we should do it."

"I would be careful with my brother Lady Widow." Thor said quietly, which was quite loud. "He is known as the silver tongue in our world and his greatest strength comes in the form of trickery through speech. He never breaks his promises but he rarely makes promises that are as good as they sound."

Fury flicked his good eye between the two, obviously in thought. It took a minute and he turned around and punched a code into the computer.

"Bring the prisoner up to the main deck. Do not hesitate to shoot him should he try to escape."

O~~~~~~~~~~~O

Loki held his head high as he was walked into the room with a guard detail. He was wearing handcuffs which did not make him happy but he would keep them on until there weren't ten men keeping their guns pointed at him with a finger on the trigger. The first thing he did was sweep his eyes over the room and take in everything. The main heroes, as he would call them for now, were sitting at a long conference table. On the other side of the large room was about forty diligent workers, bustling around but taking furtive looks at the group. Quickly he moved to make eye contact with Tony Stark, keeping the contact until he slipped gracefully into the seat provided. He took a moment to glance over the man and take him in without a suit. He paused a little on the glowing light before realizing that was the injury that he had saved the man from. Using his magic he peered into the device and saw how it was pulling the pieces of metal away from his heart. It was a magnificent piece of technology.

"Loki." Fury started, dragging his attention away from his target. He raised an eyebrow and turned his chair to face the man. "You promised to give me back my man."

"I did." Loki raised his bound hands and snapped. Little green sparks jumped from his fingers. It was all a show, because he could have ended the connection with only a thought. But they would not have trusted him if they had not seen any physical manifestation. He relaxed in his seat and seemed to survey the room as they stared him down.

"Director? Director this is Hawkeye, come in." A voice rattled over the speaker system.

"Speak to me Barton."

"I don't know what happened but the connection broke. One minute I was getting on a plane to follow Loki's orders and now I'm not. I have full control of my faculties again." Barton's voice rang out and a sigh of relief washed over the room.

"Then come home. We have Loki in our custody."

"Yes director." And the speakers shut off.

"I am a man of my word Director." Loki said with a smile, leaning back on his chair. He looked over at Tony and realized the man was staring at him. Loki stared back, content to play the game with him. He let the other man survey him, idly wondering what the man was thinking. A force filled the room that seemed to make people itch. It only lasted so long seeing as Fury's patience always ran thin and was never a favored virtue.

"You also said you would answer questions. Any question." Fury queried. He moved to sit in the large chair at the end of the table.

"Hmm. Yes I did say that." Loki said, trailing off thoughtfully. However he didn't say anything, just stared back at Fury.

"Why are you here?" Fury demanded.

"Because you led me here by gun point."

"What are you trying to do?"

"I'm trying to answer your questions." Loki looked smug, nodding to Bruce when he tried to cover up a laugh with a cough. Tony looked thoroughly amused. Even Thor looked slightly sad but definitely amused. Fury was not so.

"Are you going to answer any of my questions seriously?"

"Yes yes, of course I am. You are just fun to tease Lord _Fury._ " Loki smirked. He waved his hand in a flippant motion, showing off the fact that he was no longer handcuffed. The handcuffs were on the table in their original box, sitting serenely in front of Fury.

"I did warn you Man of Fury. My brother enjoys his games far too much. He answered all of your questions honestly but not in the way you wished. This is a common ploy of his."

"Yes Thor, kindly shut up. We all got that you hideous oaf." Loki growled, making Thor give him a piteous look.

"For what reason have you come to Earth?" Fury said, enunciating it clearly.

"Under the command of Thanos the mad Titan I have been ordered to Earth to open the gate way that will allow his army through to take the Earth for him." Loki said. Thor tensed and hissed at the name Thanos, causing them all to worry.

"Are you under his command of your own will?" Fury asked, trying to figure out the god in front of him.

"I entered into his fold willingly only AFTER my mind was warped by the tesseract."

"Your mind was warped?" Natasha asked in a tense way. It wasn't hard to see that her hand was hovering over her pistol on her hip.

"Much in the way your Hawks mind was taken. Granted with mine it was a little more subtle. . ."

"So essentially you are saying that it was coerced and you are innocent." Fury interrupted.

"I am far from innocent. But if you want to be pedantic, yes it was all coerced. Though I do not deny that I wanted to come to Earth, regardless of the reason I was sent here." Green eyes trailed over to Tony, causing him to tense up. However there was no malice in his gaze just curiosity . . . and just a small flicker of pleasure.

"What is the reason you surrendered to Stark? Do you know each other? What does he have to do with this?" Fury demanded, leaving no spaces in between his questions.

"We know each other. We know each other quite well. We have never met each other, spoke only once. He has everything to do with this. For him I gave up the staff and broke its connection to my mind. It is because of him that I will help you survive and win the coming invasion."

O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O

Tony was very confused. He supposed that would happen to anyone who as informed that they knew a god, spoke to him once but never met him. The statements were contradictory and made no sense. Perhaps they talked on the phone or online. Certainly that would be a way to speak but not actually meet. But he said that they knew each other well. Normally that would take more than one conversation and not one that would be conducted on the phone or online.

Tony stopped his musings when he noticed all of the group (including a good majority of the workers that were around him) were staring at him, waiting for an answer.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Tony admitted honestly, shrugging his shoulders. Loki stood up, ignoring the guns tracking his movement. He approached Tony cautiously, noting that the genius had tensed when he moved. He leaned over, placing his palm on Tony's forehead and leaned close.

"Strength. You must hold onto your strength. You can make it out of here. You will survive. Survive my Drengr." Loki spoke in a firm and clear tone, staring deeply into the rich brown eyes below him. The eyes in question widened slightly as surprise over took him.

":You!" Tony gasped in surprise, not pulling back from the warm hand on his forehead or the god that was well within his personal bubble. He laid a hand protectively over his arc reactor on instinct. Everyone noted the movement but didn't say anything.

"Yes, me."

"So you do know him?" Steve asked, glancing in between the staring pair. Neither answered him though; content to have each other's full attention.

"You were a hallucination."

"You were hallucinating at the time, yes. Though I am no imaginary figure. The images were purely your mind trying to comprehend my power. Considering the amount of trauma and drugs in your system at the time it is no surprise you did not think me real." Loki explained, steadfast in keeping his hand on Tony's forehead.

"What is a Drengr?" Steve asked quietly, thoroughly butchering the pronunciation.

"It means 'warrior'" Thor said in a little bit of awe, both at the words as well as his brothers interaction with the mortal. His brother rarely touched someone of his own free will, always arching away like an annoyed cat. Yet here he was, willingly laying hands on a mortal and did not seem inclined to move them.

"But Stark wasn't Iron Man until after getting the arc reactor. Why did you call him warrior then?" Natasha spoke up, disdain slightly edging her tone.

"You are a fool if you believe he was not a warrior before his injury. He had the spirit of someone who has seen battle well before he began to worship me." Loki glanced at the woman before leaning back and taking the seat closest to his worshipper.

"Worship?!"

O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O

Loki loved a show. This was certainly a show. There was a lot of shouting. People accusing his worshipper of calling Loki down here. Tony in turn was sneering back, questioning the intelligence of anyone who thought he'd believe in a deity. Thor was bellowing, demanding Loki inform him why he hadn't been told he had gotten a worshipper. He allowed it to continue for a moment before his head started to ache.

A quick swipe of his hand and the group was silent, leaving only him and Stark able to talk. He would be remiss to silence his worshipper, since he was the only one Loki really wanted to speak to. It took a long time before the others realized that they had been silenced. The mortals turned to yell at him silently, only Thor backing down and reseating himself. Though his ex-brother has spent a lot of time being silenced and knew there was no used in yelling at Loki.

"If you sit down and stop yowling like dogs then perhaps you will get the answers to your questions." Said Loki.

"Now I will explain," Loki started, leaning forward to lean on the table. "I am a god. It makes sense that I will be able to hear the prayers of those who call to me. Now, much like your Greek gods of old, many people choose a patron god to whom most of their prayers go to. In most recent times people pray to 'God'. That means one of two things. If you imagine your god to be the lone creator of your world and so otherworldly that you could not imagine him, your prayers go somewhere I don't know of. Perhaps there is such a god and he hears. Now if you imagine an older man who sits upon the cloud and listens to your prayers then, quite unintentionally, you pray to Odin.

"Some people choose to pray or hope for certain things. In this way you choose your patron. Normally your first prayers, when you are of an age of reason, choose who becomes your patron. That god then hears all of the prayers, wishes and hopes that you may have. You can pray to another specific god if you choose, but unless stated otherwise all of them go to the patron you chose." Loki rambled on, swinging his hand to punctuate his statements. On the other side of the table Thor was nodding along, silently confirming everything he was saying.

"Any god who hears your prayers gets a small bond between the two of you. He or she can feel your emotions. How strong the bond is, is dictated by how often you pray, how much you believe and whether or not there are a lot of other worshippers. Most gods now choose to ignore their worshippers. They know that no one intentionally chooses to worship them anymore and there are too many people to keep track of. So prayers are ignored and people are left to their lives."

"I'm pretty sure I didn't choose you. I don't even believe in any deity." Tony said, crossing his arms and furrowing his brows. Loki could feel his brain sorting and filing the information it was getting.

"When someone asks you what you believe in, what do you say?" Loki queried.

"That I believe in entropy. In chaos. That all things are created through the increase of chaos. Science." Loki smirked and waved at himself.

"Loki of Asgard: God of mischief and fire. The trickster god. The god of _chaos_." Tony gaped for a moment.

"So I said something like that and accidentally chose you as my patron?"

"Yes."

"That still doesn't explain why I'm important. You said that there were so many of us that nobody pays attention to their worshippers." Tony accused.

"Man of Iron." Both were rather surprised when Thor. During his little lecture Loki had not realized that he dropped his spell. "My brother has never been the patron to any worshipper. Even in the height of belief no one called upon him to listen to their prayers." Thor explained, despite the glaring of his once brother. There was a heavy silence as they stared at the younger god. Loki wanted to sneer, there was a flicker of pity from Thor as well as the captain. Instead he looked at Tony, rejoicing at the little flicker of pride that went through the bond.

" _Thor,_ " Loki emphasized the name, a warning glance at the other god. If he kept using the term brother then Loki was going to turn his tongue into lead. "Is quite correct . . . for once. I was no one's patron and when I did get a prayer it was a cry for mercy. People used to think that I personally tricked them out of spite, despite the fact that I was rarely ever on Earth." He sighed heavily. With a flick of his fingers an amber drink appeared in front of him and he took a sip.

"You are my first worshipper, therefore are very important. But it is not only that. You kept me sane when the universe was looking to destroy me. You believed in me, despite not knowing my existence, far more that my own father and brethren did. It gave me something to do other than die of boredom when I was being punished. When I was floating through the ether after I thought I was going to fall to me death I could still feel you and that was the thing that kept my mind from rotting." Loki paused for a second to take a drink. He wanted to smile when he felt a little prayer trickle in. A small snap and a tumbler of scotch appeared before Tony. The billionaire took a long pull from it and hummed happily.

"So you have been doing things for me my whole life?" Tony asked.

"In a way. But not nearly as direct as you are worrying about." Loki stared into Tony's eyes. "Your achievements are your own. I did not change the world around you to make you any more successful that you could have made yourself. It was little things that I did. Made you feel lucky when you were depressed. A boost of confidence when you felt you could not do something. The feeling of a loving hug when there was no one to do it for you." Loki spoke softly. Tony took a shuddering inhale. He felt as if his entire soul was on display for everyone there. He didn't miss the little sneer from Natasha when she heard the comment about a hug. Steve had a look of little pity.

"Okay, so what now?" Tony asked, taking a large drink of scotch to cover up his discomfort.

"We stop the attack and stop Thanos."

"You want to defeat him?" Fury asked incredulously.

"I do not like people controlling me, or trying to. Thor can tell you how it works when someone tries to take me as a fool. Regardless, the monster tried to take my mind. For that I will take his life." There was a loud clatter and a blur as Clint seemingly fell from the ceiling. He landed on the table , bow drawn and poised in between Loki's eyebrows. Loki raised an uninterested eyebrow but didn't move.

"No that is a policy I could follow." Clint spat, fire in his eyes.

"If you think killing me will make you feel better, do try your best. I don't think you will get very far." Loki smiled and glanced up at the arrow pressed to him. The pointed head had transformed and was now a small suction cup. Clint growled and reached for a new arrow, only to see that the next one he pulled out of his quiver was the same. He reached into his boot for a knife, pulling out a long stem rose.

"Thank you." Loki smirked, plucking the rose from his grip and bringing it to his nose to sniff it. He snapped his fingers and Hawkeye was pulled off the table and force into a seat by an invisible force.

"Let me go!" He squawked, tugging at the invisible ropes.

"I released you from my service because I was asked to. That does not mean that I will allow you to hurt me now that you are not under my command." Loki said with a dismissive wave. "Now let us talk business."

"Do you really think that you can defeat this Titan bastard?" Fury asked.

"It would be impossible." Thor jumped in, ignoring the glare from his brother. "Thanos is an immortal. There is no way to bring about his death as Death had barred him from her domain forever more."

"He may be immortal but he is not invincible nor is his army. Can I kill him? No I cannot. That does not mean that I cannot stop him from taking control of this planet." He leaned back, dropping his feet lightly on the table. "I have my minions bringing the tesseract to Stark tower now as we speak. I say we convene there and discuss the plan to defeat my old master."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Well that's all for now, I guess. I've been putting of writing for a while but I think I really need to get back into it. Hopefully the rest of this story will come easily. I was originally only supposed to be 4000 words. Next thing you know it 8000 and you want to make another chapter.

If you have any ideas feel free to give them to me. Either for this story, any other story you want to read or if there is an obscure social problem you feel like you have the answer to. I'm really willing to read just about anything.


	2. Chapter 2

Here we are. All done, just like I promised . . . months ago . . . This was hard to write. For some reason I just could not make it sound good. It kept reading like a second rate, first draft of a teenage romance novel. Still don't love the ending but after staring at it for hours I concluded that it's the best its gonna get.

I know some people wanted this to end up as slash. Well it's not. Sorry but as I wrote it there just never seemed to be a good reason to put it in. Just didn't fit. Still should be a decent read, just no sexy stuff this time. . . just discussions about abuse and descriptions of gore . . .

0~~~~~~~~~~0

Loki hummed lightly as he dragged his fingertips across the glass bar in Stark Tower. He watched as his worshipper pours amber liquid into two glasses, ignoring the worried glances from his team. After accepting a glass Loki swept over to the couch, gracefully falling onto the plush cushions. He wanted to smile, he really did. All eyes were on him, worried or angry. Loki was, if nothing else, a performer. He would not be "The Trickster" if he did not love the attention in some form. He did not smile though, for it would only cause more strife. Instead he raised the glass to his nose and sniffed before taking a sip.

"You have excellent taste." He saluted Tony, who was watching him closely. He saw the engineers eyes focus on every micro-movement, as if staring would allow him to see the god's cells workings.

"Of course." Tony nodded, obviously pleased. "Only the best for my god."

There was a heavy silence on the room. Loki felt no need to break it. He allowed the would-be hero's to simmer in the quiet as he swirled the liquid lightly in the glass. He watched his slosh as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Occasionally he would look up. He took a moment to peer at each person, waiting to see if they would keep eye contact, smirking as each one did.

"Speaking of being a god." Tony broke the pressure. "Is there anything special I should be doing to worship you? Sacrificing a virgin on an alter? An offering of goat's blood and gold?"

"I would not say no if you wished to gift me gold. Virgins however, are quite useless to me. While the thought is nice, a practiced lover is always preferred to one who is not. As for the goats blood, I already have more than I could possibly drink." Loki smirked and looked over at Thor.

The golden god flinched, which caused Loki to chuckle. Many centuries ago Loki had sought out to disturb his brother after a particularly nasty fight. He had made an illusion to seem as if he were drinking goat's blood every time he was in his presence. He particularly liked drinking it in large gulps, letting a single crimson drop drip over his chin and down his neck. The imagery was so good that on more than one occasion it caused Thor to gag. Up to the whole mess that caused the fall Loki would occasionally allow his normal mead to look like the thick red blood to see his ex-brothers reaction.

"This is no time for jesting." Thor boomed, stepping forward in a menacing way.

"Is it not?" Loki raised a brow, challenging the man to take another step. He glanced over when he felt the little trickle of a prayer. He raised his fingers and snapped.

0~~~~~~~~~~0

Tony had to try very hard not to yelp. Really, he was a superhero. The noise he was about to make would be better suited for a little girl. Though it would be for anyone who was standing behind a bar to suddenly reappear on the floor in between the legs of a Norse god. He was about to protest and suddenly he could not talk. Long, thin fingers dragged across his scalp, massaging away the headache that had been beginning to form before his impromptu teleportation.

If Tony were a cat he would purr. . . Strike that, he was purring. He stretched lazily as the fingers stroked. He vaguely noticed that those in the room that had weapons had them drawn. Tony tried to care, he really did. Then the rub became a soft scratching and he decided that it was worth more to let the god keep doing as he wished.

"Let him go." Widow demanded, gesturing with her gun.

"If he wishes to move he can." Loki said coyly. "It's be his own regard that he sits before me." There was a silent stand off as they all decided what they wanted to do. Technically they weren't supposed to be fighting him. If anyone were able to defeat a giant space army, the former leader was by far the best option. Still, they were not going to be without fighting. Most of the Avengers (read: all but Tony) were far too high strung to deal with a man who liked to play tricks. Perhaps Bruce would be okay, being a noncombatant. Everyone else was going to be easily offended and quick to draw.

"Brother what are you doing?" Thor questioned.

"You know Anthony, there are some gods who never bother to learn about prayer and its power to them?" Loki queried, as though he had not heard the other Asgardian. "Many just accepted offerings from humans and moved on. A few would answer the strong calls and ignore the rest. They did not realize what they were losing." Loki hummed, contently stroking his worshipper.

"Every prayer answered is like recharging a battery. It creates a bond that can only grow stronger. Right now the bond we have is the strongest ever known. There is no record of any god that spent more than a few minutes considering the power of prayer. I, on the other hand, have spent a great many hours on my worshipper. I alone know the power that comes with doting on a worshipper." Loki paused to hum as Tony considered his words. Being used as a battery. Well if there are worse things that can happen. Extrapolating from what he said, Loki would be answering his prayers to supplement himself. He was most likely getting a fabulous head rub because of hoping that his headache would go away. The booze that he made appear, another example of a prayer answered.

"Tony? What is going on?" Pepper walked in, folders under her arm and a glare.

"Ah, Pepper!" Tony said, not bothering to get up. "There has been some development on the crazy god trying to take over the world front. This is the god; he is not trying to take over the world anymore."

"And he is sitting on your couch petting you because?"

"Because I have apparently been worshipping him from when I was in college and he is quite a doting god."

"You . . . you have been worshipping a god. . . I can't even get you to go to church on Easter with me!" Good ol' Pepper. She can take quite a lot in without freaking out.

"Yes, well. It was purely unintentional worshipping. Something about him being chaos and me saying that I pray to chaos. Regardless, he is going to help us until the crazy beast that is really trying to take over the world is defeated. Until then he is going to live here with the Avengers and his ex-brother." Tony waved a hand at the mentioned parties. None of them had bothered to sit down yet except Bruce.

"I've talked to you about picking up stray megalomaniacs Tony!" Pepper laid the papers on the tables, putting her hands on her hips.

"But MOM! This one is a GOD! Plus, he's not trying to take over the world anymore." Tony whined. Pepper tried to keep a straight face but the small smile did eventually betray her.

"Fine but if he pees on the floor then you get to clean up after him." Tony tried not to laugh at the equal looks of disgust and affrontation that were on the faces of the two Agardians in the room. "Anyway, sign these papers by tomorrow if you will. That way I can go back to running _your_ company." Pepper pivoted before stalking to the door to leave.

0~~~~~~~~~~0

Loki tried not to laugh as he watched his worshipper talk with the woman. He looked into her life energy and saw strength. She reminded him of Sif, strong and passionate. No doubt worthy of respect, especially since she obviously was of better humor than Sif. He enjoyed this. Everyone, excluding the spider and himself, were off their game. Incredulity and angry, it was like playing with Fenrir when he was still a pup.

"Listen. I know we are all uncomfortable with this, but we really to start talking about the battle. We know nothing about this Thanos guy and when he may be coming." Steve said, drawing everyone's attention.

"I agree with the Captain." Thor boomed. "I know little about Thanos. Though our father has warned us of his powers."

"Your father, Thor. He is no father of mine." Loki sneered.

"Brother must we go through this again?" Thor bemoaned, he did not continue his whining when a glare was shot his way.

"That man you call 'father' lost his right long ago to call me his son. I will not allow you to impugn on my honor by implying that he is any relation to me."

"Listen, we all have daddy issues here. Now isn't really the time to be discussing it. There is a giant army of aliens that is about to descend on earth." Barton interrupted.

"It is cute, little hawk, that you would compare my issues with Odin to your measly daddy issues. However, there is as much time as we need. Thanos cannot enter this worked with his army without the portal created by the tesseract. The tesseract is on its way here and won't activate until we decide to do so. I am quite content to stay here and re-inform my brother exactly why I hate his father."

"He did nothing but right by you, Loki. You should respect him as your father and, if not, as your king."

"He has done nothing but wrong by me!" Loki yelled, stopping his ministrations on his worshipper to point an accusing finger at Thor. "Honor him all you want but I will not. I will not honor a man who killed my children and my wife. A man who would watch his son lose his head on a rigged game or punish me the way he has punished me."

"Are you speaking of the snake?" Bruce interrupted for the first time.

"You have heard the stories?" Loki asked, staring intensely at the man.

"I spent a couple months learning the polytheistic ways. I heard the stories about your children and your punishments. They are pretty much the only teachings people have of you. Though knowing that you really exist. Well, it's hard to judge if they were true."

"You can't honestly believe that we care about that? So what? We've all gone through some shit and seen our friends and family die." Barton groused. Romanov nodded as she settled deeper into her chair.

"Perhaps you have seen your friends die. That is not an uncommon thing for warriors. But that is a far cry from the crimes my father has committed. He would have let dwarves cut off my head because of a rigged bet that he instigated. He constantly begged for my powers of manipulation and then punished me for them. He kept the knowledge of my birth from me and allowed me to think that he loved me, when all he felt was disgust for my kind.

"All that could be forgiven in time." Loki waved his hand as if dismissing the ideas himself. "His worse crimes are against innocents. Not just any innocents, my wife and children. He took my Sleipner and uses him as a common mule, refusing to let him in human form. My child Fenrir, locked in a cave with a sword pierced through his mouth with no change to escape. A daughter locked in a place you would call hell, forced to be surrounded by the dead. My boys Narfi and Vali. . ."

0~~~~~~~~~~0

Tony scrunched his brow in confusion when Loki stopped talking. He turned to look up at him from his position on the floor. Gone was the superior look, the smirk with a little bit of humor. Instead he had a far off look in his eyes. His face no longer looked like he was twenty-eight and eternally youthful. Instead you could physically see the centuries that he had gone through in his eyes and his down turned mouth.

"Father did what he thought was best." Thor stated. Tony wondered if he would get in trouble shooting his ass through the wall.

"Best. . ." Loki hissed, feeling the word on his tongue. "Yes I'm sure it is justifiable." Loki sneered heavily. "I insult a few of his friends. Of course the best thing is to force me to watch my children kill each other. A few wounded egos are worth turning one of your grandchildren into a wolf and forcing him to tear out the throat of his brother. Then of course you would turn him back soon enough that he would see the destruction he was forced to cause. Nothing like making sure that a _child_ goes insane with grief before you kill him. Still, that would hardly be enough for a coward being called a coward.

"Perhaps it was best that he bound me to a rock with the still warm entrails of my son. Forced my heart broken wife to sit beside me so that I was not forced to bear the pain of venom dripping into my eyes and mouth. She killed herself Thor! Took her own life because all that had made her life good was gone. I came out of that cave burned and broken, covered in the blood of my son and without any of my family left. You're right, I should not be angry at a man like that."

Loki caught his ex-brother in a piercing stare. Blankly challenging him to say anything to defend himself or his father. Tony glanced around at the quiet room. Natasha was the only one who looked composed but twitching fingers near her gun trigger exposed her. Everyone else was a little green around the gills. If Tony didn't know better he would have sworn the Captain was going to burst into tears.

"Sir. The tesseract is in the delivery bay awaiting your orders." JARVIS broke into the conversation. At once everyone seemed to take in the shuddering breath they had forgotten about. Tony felt long fingers hook under his jaw, tilting it so he was looking at the god upside down.

"My apologies. This was not my intent. I appreciate the fact that you care. However this state of mind is not beneficial for planning battle." Loki said softly. The god glowed lightly and Tony felt himself smile as he was filled with a calming happiness. The tension in the room fell as the other superheroes felt the effect of Loki's magic.

"Right. Well, let's get on with it then. JARVIS?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Have them load the tesseract into Dumbwaiter 3 and have it delivered to the conference room. Have them set the machine into R&D lab 3."

"Of course Sir."

"Follow me duckies!" Tony swept from the room. He led him down the maze of hallways and elevators that made up the tower. He shooed the group into a large conference room before shutting the door. Whistling to himself he went over to the wall and pressed on a panel. It opened to reveal the tesseract sitting in a metal cage. He hefted it and set it the middle of the long table. Tony flexed his fingers as he stared at the glowing temptation on the table.

0~~~~~~~~~~0

Loki watched as his worshiper internally debated. The overwhelming desire to tough filled Loki as it fill Tony. He waited patiently until he could see the well-manicured fingers inch close to the cube. Loki sent out a light shock, stopping the man from caressing the tesseract.

"Ouch." Tony yelped, pulling his hand back to his chest.

"I wouldn't. The tesseract has the power to warp the minds of the gods, surely it would easily take a man who can't even resist the desire to touch something shiny." Loki purred.

"I thought you were on my side!" Tony said with a pout.

"Of course I am. You are my only follower. That does not mean that you are perfect. In fact, many would say it is proof opposite." Loki smirked. Tony pouted harder, making a point to stick out his bottom lip dramatically.

"Guys we really need to work. We have an invading army that we know nothing about. We can't sit here all day with Loki making fun of everyone." Captain interrupted.

"Very well. Allow me to educate you on the enemy." Loki rose dramatically, striding to the top of the table. With a wave of his hand the lights lowered.

"Our enemy is the Chitari" Loki said. With a wave of his hand a projection landed on the table. A lizard creature hunched snarling and growling in a soft green light. "They are simple creatures born of anger and hunger. They live in a hive where a queen controls all of their movements. Simple minded but resilient. Simple guns will not pierce their hide and there will be an overwhelming amount of them." Loki sneered at the image before wiping it away with his hand.

"Their queen right now is another beast called the Other." Another image lit up. Instead of a lizard beast it was humanoid and mostly covered in a long robe. However it was easy to see the gaping mouth with dripping sharp teeth. The image raised its six fingered hand to swipe with its long claws. "The Other is another beast that was lost in the darkness between the branches of the tree. The last of his kind, he ate all of his kin. Smart and ruthless, he uses the Chitari to conquer realms he wishes to take."

"Still, of these there is one who controls the Other and he is far more fearsome." Another image floated down next to the hologram of the Other. It stood three times its size. The creature was clothed in armor and carried a long scythe. His skin was purple and he seemed to leak power.

"Thanos." Thor growled.

"Thanos is a creature called an Immortal. Normally the Immortals are peaceful creatures, devoted to spending eternal life to answering the questions of the universe. However, Thanos was born misshapen. Shunned from his kind he wandered the universe. He tried to prove himself by destroying everything in his path, starting with his own kind. He searched relentlessly for anything that could stand against him. In the end there was only one thing that could stand against his will."

Loki paused here, letting his sparkling eyes sweep over the group of super heroes. He could feel his worshipper's excitement as he waited. Even Thor seemed enraptured by his story.

"Lady Death."

"Wait. You mean there is actually a being called death . . . and it's a girl?" Barton asked in disbelief.

"There are many being that represent death. There is something quite interesting about Midgard. That is that you sit at the edge of the great tree, and your branch is tangled in the branched of other trees. All of your gods and goddesses are of a real nature and are beings on different trees. That is why you have all the religions you do and why some may end up worshipping those of our realm and some will not. Death, however, has many images. In our realm it takes the form of Hel. My daughter born to me by a giantess. Thanos cannot defeat her and she will not give him what he wants.

"The one thing Thanos cannot have is death. To him Lady Death is the only enemy he cannot defeat. So instead he decided to try and seduce her. He travels through our realm, killing entire species off as presents to the Lady, hoping to earn her favor. He is infinitely powerful and cannot be killed." Loki finished, waving away his projections.

"How are we supposed to fight someone who cannot die?" Bruce asked, leaning back in his chair.

"I said that he could not die. Not that he could not be destroyed." Loki smiled, slipping into a chair.

"I do not understand." Thor said, tilting his head like a confused puppy.

"Don't worry Point Break. He just saying that to win the battle we need to hit him so hard that it will take millennia for him to come back. Defeat his army and destroy his body. Show him that we won't back down." Tony gushed, waving his hands around.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Natasha asked, finally weighing in on the conversation.

"We will engage in glorious battle! I will strike him with Mljonr!" Thor shouted.

"No you won't." Loki growled.

"Brother?"

"You cannot just strike Thanos with your hammer and think you have won!" Loki shouted. "The creature has more power than you could even hope to imagine! We will not win this battle by brute strength alone in one-on-one combat. We strategize, fight from afar!"

"I will not fight like a coward!" Thor thundered.

"No! You will fight like the fool you are! I have been telling you this for _millennia_. You will go to your death because you don't want to use the useless lump you call a brain. There is no victory in death! Honor is of no use if you are dead. You would condemn this entire planet because you do not want to seem a fool to your drinking friends?!" Loki screeched.

There was a heavy silence in the room. The humans watching like it was a movie, getting more insight in Loki, Thor's and Asgards relationship than any frank talk from the god of mischief.

"In Asgard strategizing is considered weak?" Bruce asked.

"No." Loki huffed. "Strategy is a welcomed talent. However, if any strategy has anything to do with trickery it is dismissed. Hiding is frowned on as well as long distance weaponry. Anything that isn't head on, bearing arms battle is something not worthy of considering. It does not matter if there is an easier and safer way. It is considered weak and _shameful_. "

"Well I don't know about you but I like easy and safe. . . Well I do when it comes to fighting off giant armies of lizard bastards." Tony interrupted.

"I'm a spy. Sneaking around and trickery are in my blood. I agree with Loki, we are not going to be able to defeat them with that kind of force. We are very outnumbered."

"How outnumbered?" Steve asked.

"Six to one." Loki said immediately.

"You mean six to one of the US army or the whole world?"

"No. Six to one of every single living person on this world. Every man, woman and child would have six Chitari to fight for themselves."

"Fucking hell." Clint cursed, only slightly louder than Natasha who was doing the same in Russian. Tony's eyes glazed over as he tried to add those figures into his previous estimates.

0~~~~~~~~~~0

Tony was quite sure his headache was never going to go away. Not even that fantastic Swedish masseuse with the amazing body and loose inhibitions was going to make the ache go away. Forty two billion. Forty two billion aliens were going to be knocking on their door to kill everyone. They didn't even have an army on their side. Nobody knew except them and shield. If they called in everyone there would still be millions to contend with each. He could control the other suits with remote control. Still, it would be like trying to empty the ocean using a slotted spoon.

"There is hope." Loki said, watching Tony taping his fingers on the arc reactor. It was a nervous habit he had developed a while ago. Tony tried not to make a face at the statement. The numbers didn't add up, it hardly meant for hope.

"There are many ways that we will swing this war onto our favor. We are lucky because we have surprise and power. Chitari are stupid sheep being led by a beast. Sheep are easily killed. We can choose our domain and choose the time."

"Even if we know the time and the place it isn't going to stop the massive shit storm that is coming out way." Clint groused, slipping deeper into his chair.

"We will fight them like your Spartans did." Loki said, sitting back in his seat. "Thanos's army is coming through a portal. With a little work we can keep the portal narrow, forcing them to only let in a few at a time. Keeping them contained will make them easy to kill. Especially with your weapons. Then when the appropriate opening we can strike them in a way that will ruin them."

"What do you mean?"

"The Chitari are connected to their queen like a root is connected to its plant. If you destroy the queen the Chitari will fall around you dead. There will be three queens working under the Other. They will stay on the other side of the portal and are weak. If they are taken out it will be like stepping on an ant hill."

"And how are we to take them out if they are on the other side of the portal in space?" Captain asked.

"You are sitting opposite the best explosives expert in this realm and you are questioning how to destroy things from a distance." Loki said in a patronizing tone.

"Jarvis?" Tony called out.

"Yes sir?"

"Display Project Thai Food."

"Thai food?" Barton asked, regretting it almost instantly.

"Yep. Cause this shit is going to burn." Tony smirked, quite pleased with himself. He ignored the groans as a display of numbers and letter appeared in front of him. Then a display of large bombs floated into view.

"Tony. Is this a plan for an alien invasion?" Bruce asked. Tony hummed in agreement, tapping lightly at some numbers and flinging them around. "You actually have a plan for an alien invasion."

"I actually have seven. This is my 'aliens in massive quantities let's use the hammer method'." Tony said as if it was a proper explanation. No one was eager to ask Tony about the other six plans that he had. Images flew and danced as the spelled out an image of high-strung paranoia. A glance as the floating numbers was sufficient enough to make everyone realize what "largest manufacturer of weapons in the world" actually meant.

"So that leaves us to make the decision on the location and the time. Somewhere empty and expendable. I will leave you to it." Loki swept out of the room. In a small scramble Tony followed him out, leaving Bruce and Cap to argue about deserts and tundra.

Silently Tony followed the would-be world leader as he swanned through the halls of his tower. Down two flights of stairs and down a hall. Loki swayed momentarily in front of a door with a keypad. Tony watched as the man stood in front of the door which lead to his private labs. The key pad sung out a tune as the god scurried his fingers across it.

Tony berated himself as the door let them in, deciding that they needed a revamp in security if he could get in so easily. When he refocused Loki was lounging in one of his seats, a wrench swinging lightly in his hand.

"I must say, I am impressed." Loki began, tossing the tool in the air. IT pirouetted twice before landing lightly on its head on the table.

"Oh?" Tony asked. He strode over to the bottle of whiskey he kept under a desk. With a little wave he offered a drink to the lounging god. Loki smirked, snapped and raised an eyebrow when a golden drink appeared in his hand.

"Yes, quite impressed." Loki took a minute to take a drink. "Mortals, in my experience, have always been insufferably dull. You seem to be an exception."

"I got the impression that you would find everybody insufferably dull. I have yet to hear you compliment a species in any form. You even talk disparagingly about your own race." Tony shot back, trying not to melt into the compliment.

"True." He purred. "Though you must know how that feels. . . I know you know what that feels like."

"You know I still don't get it, this whole worshipping and prayer thing." Tony tried to lead the conversation. He sat down on a small section of the desk he had managed to clear off.

"I should imagine. Anyone who claims to understand it, doesn't. Prayers are hardly a simple thing. They aren't conscious decisions most of the time. You do not need to go to your knees and start by saying 'dear god' and end with 'amen'. It is any time you ask for something or plead to another power. Every time you think 'I wish' or 'I hope' I will hear it. 'Please' works just as well in coming to my attention. There are a million factors on whether I will hear what you have said. Whether you desire to keep it secret, the strength of the desire, whether it will override my inattention. It is a field of magic that no one has studied, something that has just been accepted without any thought." Loki explained, punctuating his statements with golden shimmers in the air that followed his fingers.

0~~~~~~~~~~0

"Why are you here, though? Why now?" Loki shrugged slightly.

"I have not been able to choose where I am and when I go there for years. My life has been decided by everyone other than me. The only thing that I have chosen is to go with you when you appeared in Germany. "

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Why are you helping us then?" Tony huffed.

"That is easy. I don't like being manipulated. They took my mind and now I want revenge. You all have the power and now the knowledge to defeat him. I will take my vengeance and then I will be happy."

"What about Thor then? He seems quite intent on taking you back to Asgard and making you face the music there."

"Thor can talk all he wants but he has never been able to capture me when I did not want him to. This time will be no different. I will find some place in a different realm where I can make a place my own and finally rid myself of the nonsense that is Asgard."

"You could stay here." Tony offered.

"With you?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's not like I don't have plenty of space."

Loki smirked as he watched his worshipper. His offer was genuine, which was surprising in the least. Loki vaguely wondered if the man even realized that he was offering the god of chaos and fire and mischief a place in his home. He guessed that he did and he just didn't care. Before he could reply JARVIS came on overhead and interrupted them.

"Sirs. You are wanted back in the conference room. It seems that the Captain and Mr. Banner have come to a conclusion."

Both rose and Loki followed the billionaire to an elevator. Tony sipped quietly at his drink as they flew up to the correct floor. With a side glance Loki couldn't help but smirk. A little twist of his finger and a barely noticeable puff of silver were the only indication that anything had happened. He lowered his head in deference as the other man left the elevator first. The door swung open and everyone was able to see the new billionaire.

"Umm… Tony is everything ok?" Banner asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"This seems to be the work of my brother." A window pane darkened until it was reflective and the man was finally able to see what had happened. His hair was a glaringly aggressive pink with frosted tips reminiscent of the worst trend in the 90's. His suit was now purple with yellow dots. The worst though was the makeup. With hooker red lips and more than eyeshadow than a person should wear in a life time made the playboy look like a cheap cross dresser having a bad day.

The laughter surprised everyone. Anger would have been the normal reaction. Surprise or fear understandable. However, the full body laughs that came out of the genius were very surprising. It would die down to a chuckle before bubbling up again, shaking his body with amusement.

"I do not understand." Thor said in confusion. "Are you not angry at my brother prank?"

"Angry? This is awesome! My god, look at my hair. How did you get it that pink? That was magic right? Awesome!" Tony gushed, running his hands through the pink strands. He swiped a finger across his lips to gaze at the lipstick.

"You are a strange man Man of Iron." Thor stated, the others nodded along.

"Do you expect anything different from the man who would worship chaos? Really Thor, can you be any more simple?" Loki said with a smirk. A waggle of his fingers and the makeup and suit changed, leaving Tony the same, save for his hair. He seemed to like it so Loki wasn't opposed to leaving it the way that it was.

"Right." The Captain interrupted, uncomfortable with the use of magic and Tony in general. "Well we have decided the place and time for the battle."

"There is a section of land in Death Valley that is an uninhabited dessert that will give us enough security that would allow us to contain any enemies and prevent them from destroying any structures. We will be able to load most of your short distance missiles and explosives in the area so that they can easily reloaded. Plus there is little to no chance of the weather making an unwanted appearance." Banner recited, poking and enlarging the map.

"So it's large, flat and dry." Tony simplified, punctuating it with a drink.

"Well . . . yeah that's right." Banner said

"Right!" Tony clapped his hands together in joy. "So when are we doing this thing?"

"In five days. It'll give us enough time to get everything together and perhaps beg for help from various armies." Captain answered this time.

"Ugh battling an army of aliens on a Tuesday?"

"What's wrong with Tuesday?"

"I don't know. Space battles just seem more like a Thursday/Friday type of thing." Tony shrugged. "Anyway, who is staying with me? Loki and Thor have a place. Bruce is staying. Don't!" He interrupted whatever Bruce was going to say. "You are officially kidnapped and at my mercy. Barton and Romanoff I assume you are going back to SHEILD. That leaves you Cap."

"I guess I can stay here." Steve said nervously. "I mean, they're not going to need me until the final battle."

"Oh this is going to be fun." Loki purred, no one could resist the shudder that ran through them all at the statement.

0~~~~~~~~~~0

Tony should've known better.

Really, what was he thinking? Did he really think it was a good idea to keep the GOD OF CHAOS in his house? Better yet he did it while playing host to a thunder god with a hammer, an army captain that spent years on ice, a man with breath taking anger issues all mixed with his own usual brand of craziness. He was surprised his house was still standing. Though he was in the process of buying nearly a million dollars worth of replacement furniture. Anything that could be found in a heavy-duty carbon fiber or metal alloy was replacing the old wood and plastic stuff that barely lasted a few hours against the tsunami that were his house guests.

To be honest, none of it was Bruce. Despite being the personification of an explosive temper he managed to stay eerily calm and didn't do anything to break Tony's stuff. He spent half of his time alone in his room, probably meditating or some new-agey shit. The other half was spent in one of Tony's labs, puttering around and getting used to the new toys he never got to play with. That lab was actually designed with him in mind (Tony was quite determined to get the good doctor into his clutches).

Steve wasn't much of a problem either, if Tony were honest. He did break stuff though. One was a vase that was damn near priceless. The man spent three days apologizing which Tony brushed off. He had bought that vase because the other person battling him at the auction happened to be an old enemy and Tony can hold a grudge. Sometimes he would break gym gear, Tony didn't mind because that meant after the alien-battle-of-the-millennia Tony had a challenge.

Thor broke a lot of shit. The man may as well be renamed "wrecking ball". Couches, TV's, toilets, clocks, priceless art, machines that were worth more than small countries. Tony was stunned that a single person could do that and considering who he hung out with on a regular basis, which said a lot.

Loki broke stuff too, just not directly. He was, in fact, one of the reasons that Thor managed to do damage. He did really live up to his name of the Trickster and he seemed to be taking all of his rage out on his ex-brother. Tony loved it though. He had JARVIS tape most of them and save them in DVD form. Whenever he gets depressed he is going to watch the video of Thor being chased around the tower by rainbow colored, fluffy animals that were frothing at the mouth and biting his ankles. Sure, he lost an elevator in the struggle but it was worth it when he nearly passed out he was laughing so hard.

Loki was an interesting fellow. He spent most of his time following Tony around. He would sit and watch him in the lab, listening as the man rambled on about whatever he was making. He would follow as he was pulled around to the sights of New York, which was mostly restaurants that Tony loved. Despite everything Tony was doing for him, the billionaire felt like he was the one that was being spoiled.

Tony felt like he had a personal brewery following him around of all the best drinks in all of the realms. Loki has gotten into the habit of pushing a drink on him and explaining the worlds from which it came every time Tony got even the slightest desire for a drink. He got more head massages in a few days than he ever had in his life and he was considering begging Loki to stay for that reason alone. He was never tired, hungry, irritable, or any other thing that seemed to once be constants in his life. People thought he was spoiled before? Well they had never seen him with his god.

He did feel bad sometimes. Despite everything in his life Tony was never one to have someone dote on him without a lot of compensation. He felt bad that he had A GOD who was spending his time answering his every whim. When he brought it up the god in question gave him a look like he was a pile of sludge that had been excavated from the deepest part of the earth, eaten by a dog and then puked up on the man's shoes. Tony was duly informed that if the benefits to Loki were not exponentially worth more than what he gave Tony would never have even known the man existed.

Tony could understand that and happily went back to being spoiled.

Anyway, the five days ended with Tony having an impressive headache but happier than he has been in a long time.

Tony was currently sitting in a tower just on the edge of a desert, watching as preparations were made. There were literally thousands of people scurrying around like ants across the dessert. The land was no longer barren as it was filled with neat rows of rocket launchers, missiles, tanks, ammunition, lasers, long-range flame throwers and planes on standby. Tony himself have thirty ironman suits standing in a line, toy soldiers waiting for his orders. Fury had demanded that Tony not suit up and control what was essentially his plan. The weapons were all his well.

Well . . . mostly his. Seems like an alien invasion is the way to get all the secret government agencies in the world to work together. It ended up with a field of explosives that could undoubtedly bring the end of the Earth if they weren't going to be aimed at a wormhole in space.

"Are you ready?" Loki appeared beside him with a glimmer, dressed in full regalia and a smirk.

"As I can be." Tony shrugged, fiddling with the microphone that connected him to the complex. "I've done greater things with less. What is the danger of one alien invasion?"

"Thanos is the most powerful creature in this realm and the next. It would be quite normal to be concerned."

"Yeah but when we do defeat him I get inter-galactic street cred to the max." Tony smirked. "I just don't see why I have to do this. Can't Cap man the microphone? He's the one that's supposed to be the leader anyway."

"This is not a battle like the ones your captain has seen. This is a game of numbers, which is what you and Banner are skilled at. More good will be done by you directing and him calculating than there would having an army general try and control resources only you are truly versed in." Loki stated, picking lazily at his finger nails.

"Sir?" A SHIELD agent interrupted them. "One hour until the portal is to be opened and we are beginning our final checks."

"Well here we go." Tony turned back to the window, turning on the microphone as he did.

"Alright people, final check. When I call out you sign off. We are about to face billions of aliens so everything better be perfect."

0~~~~~~~~~~0

Loki thought the battle was possibly the most boring battle he had even been part of.

He wasn't complaining though, not really. He would rather a boring battle, because that meant you were winning. They were winning without a doubt. Three hours ago he had opened the portal and allowed the Chitari and the leviathans through to Earth. That's when they met the first line of defense. The sky was lit up like a sunset and has been that way since they began. Huge waves of fire and power shifted constantly in the sky as missiles and bombs found their targets. Not that it was hard, no matter where you shot there was something to hit. Regardless. Over fifty percent of the enemies that came through the portal never made it a hundred meters. Their corpses littered the desert floor in a grotesque pile of skin and blackened blood.

The second line of defense took care of nearly ninety percent of those who made it past the hundred meter mark. The second line of defense consisted mostly of soldiers with truck mounted machine guns and Thor. The thunder god seemed to be having the time of his life as he flew through the masses swinging his hammer. On occasion he would send out bolts of lightning that would travel through the beasts killing thousands in a single go as they were all connected and the lightning managed to travel through them by the score.

Bruce had joined him as Hulk just an hour ago. After seeing that they were easily handling everything he agreed that letting his monster out for a while might help calm him for the future. He became a green blur that was bouncing across leviathans with a grin and unrelenting fists.

Tony was still up in the tower. Occasionally he would direct trucks to move or command for a certain weapon to be used as a certain time. He was also directing his suits so that they could pick up the stragglers that were missed by the second line of defense. He was pouting unhappily as he watched Thor and Hulk fly about in the swarms of Chitari.

Widow and Hawkeye were sitting on top of the tower, content to watch. They passed a pair of binoculars back and forth. Occasionally Clint would get out his bow and take out a straggler that got too close. Feeling generous Loki had supplied them (Barton) with popcorn after they decided to sit out and watch.

Loki had taken up post near the portal controls and was sipping a cup of tea as he watched. He was waiting to recharge. About every thirty minutes or so he would recharge enough to perform a spell. He would sweep an arm and ice formed a giant scythe a mile wide that would cut through the army, leaving thousands of half-chitaris in its wake in a gruesome display. The first time he did it he got a series of disgusted groans over the comms as the Avengers commented on the horrifying way that he mutilated the enemies.

"How ya doing Loki-stoki?" Tony rattled into his ear.

"I am nearly ready for another sweep. How is everything else?"

"Going good. Better than expected to be honest. They seem to be slowing down but that doesn't seem right. By my calculations we can't be but a third of the way through their army. What do you think?"

"I believe that we are actually a little over a third. It seems that while I was away the Chitari got bored and killed many of their own. That only means good things for us though. They are probably slowing so that they can reconsider their strategy. With us decimating them in this way they might be panicking as they will not be used to it." Loki purred, sipping his tea again as he watch Thor yell before hitting a leviathan with so much power that it exploded.

"Then do you think it is time for the final part of our plan. Or do you want to wait until we are closer to half like we originally thought?" Tony asked. Loki glanced up to the window he was standing at. He had a pad and was working out calculations and sending orders to his machines.

"I see no reason to wait. They will not react to losing such great numbers anyway and with the last blow I doubt many will be left even if we do not wait. Let us not waste the resources."

"Very well. I will tell the boys on the ground to set everything up. Tell me when you are ready to do another sweep." The comm clicked off and Loki sat on the chair he had conjured for himself. He kept an eye on six trucks in particular as they slowly and carefully backed into a semi-circle and waited. Men scurried as they took off the tops and revealed rockets that sat lightly on their pads. A few men in hazmat suits stood on the trucks and were checking out the rockets with careful eyes. The gold and red rockets were raised and angle before settling, waiting like a viper ready to strike.

There was a piercing wail as sirens went off loud enough to ensure that all of those around could hear it. Immediately all the soldiers that had been on tanks and trucks or on the ground scrambled to leave. The weapons were left to be manned buy computers as all the living souls left. Loki knew they were heading off the special bunkers to wait out the launching. The remote controlled Iron Man suits flew closer to pick up the slack of the people leaving. Soon only Thor and Hulk were the only ones from their armies that were left fighting.

"Hulk, buddy. You gotta get out of there or else you and Bruce are going to get vaporized." Tony's voice boomed over the battle field. Reluctantly the green monster let go of a leviathan and ran off into the distance.

"Brother." Thor landed beside Loki with a smile. He was covered nearly head to foot with the black blood of the enemy.

"Are you ready Thor?" Loki asked, not bothering to correct him on his mistake.

"I was born ready, Loki."

"We are ready." Loki informed Tony. JARVIS 's voice began to count down over the land. It started from thirty and Loki began to collect his power in the palms of his hands. Thor was swinging his hammer that began to crackle with lightning. Then the counter hit zero.

Loki released all of his power, as much as he could spar without killing himself. Instead of one ice scythe he sent out three, allowing them to mow down everything in its path. Thor's lightning danced across the ice, frying anything that may have managed to evade the giant blades as they passed through the portal, cutting a hole. For a brief moment they could see the infinite darkness of space and the giant ships Loki knew held the queens.

A large whistle signaled the launch of the first rocket. Soon there was a succession as all of them fired off into the hole the gods had just made. With a smirk Loki watched the last one enter the portal. He stuck his hand through the barrier of the portals machine, shutting it down with a decisive push. He grabbed Thor's large shoulder and teleported them into the town next to his worshipper.

0~~~~~~~~~~0

Tony didn't like the silence.

The entire tower, full of generals and leaders from all over the world watched as the portal shut and they waited for their fate. There was a collective breath being held as they watched the Chitari that had remained on this side of the portal and lived. Suddenly the approaching army stopped and fell to the ground. Like marionettes with their string cut they fell to the desert ground and didn't get up.

The whole place roared in relief as everyone stood to congratulate each other. Tony even got swept up into a few excited hugs.

"Do you think it worked? They won't come back?" Barton asked, clapping Tony on the back.

"Barton we just sent six atomic bombs, each one three times the one we dropped on Hiroshima, on them. There is no way in hell anything survived that except maybe that immortal guy. There is no way that he is coming out of that unscathed. I doubt he even has a body left to hurt!" Tony gushed.

"Congratulations." Loki said, appearing in the middle of their group.

"We had a glorious battle!" Thor roared, picking up Banner in a hug. Steve made his way to them with a large smile on his face.

"I can't believe it! We just defeated an army billions strong and lost less than a hundred men! This has got to be the greatest battle in history! Thank you." He said seriously to Loki.

"No need to thank me, Captain. This was all your own doing. I barely assisted at all." Loki waved him away.

"Nah man." Clint interrupted. "If it weren't for you and Thor and your knowledge there is no way we would've been able to win."

"I doubt that. Humans are far more resilient than anyone gives them credit for."

"The cockroaches of the realm." Tony said with a proud smile.

"Congratulation's Avengers." Fury appeared behind them, hands clasped behind his back. "Thanks t you the world is saved and with minimum casualties. You all did so well I don't think that any of the politicians are going to complain about the money spent."

"Of course they won't." Tony smirked. "Half of the weapons were from my own personal store."

"Which we will have to discuss one day, Mr. Stark. Specifically why you have weapons of mass destruction made on an almost commercial scale." He gave a piercing glare which Tony managed to hold, if only barely. "Go home. You guys are all done here. I have to go and see how to dispose of a couple billion alien corpses and to keep this all out of the press." He stalked off again, Coulson following him with a little smile. He mouthed 'well done' as he left.

"So anyone for a pizza party back at my place?" Tony asked, already tapping away at his phone to make the order.

0~~~~~~~~~~0

It was three months later and a lot had changed, and in a cliché way, a lot had not.

The Avengers stuck together. They had been introduced by the government a few days after the final clean-up of the battle. The public loved them and they quickly fell into the role of peace keepers and fighter in America as well as many places over the world. They all lived in the tower, including Natasha and Clint.

Loki lived with them too. He had decided to stay after a long think and a few days of incredible fighting with his brother. He calmed down a lot, finally coming into his own skin for the first time since everything bad had begun. He was still mischievous but there was a lack of maliciousness that it originally held. After a few long talks with Bruce and bi-weekly yoga sessions it was like talking to a new man. He was slowly coming to terms with being a frost giant and Thor's acceptance of who he was seemed to help a lot.

That had been a stressful time. In the first few weeks there had been quite a lot of yelling and breaking of furniture as the two ex-brothers tried to fight it out. Well, that's not completely right. Thor tried to fight it out while Loki stood in a corner and snarked at him until the other man went into a rage. Eventually the others stepped in. Taking them apart and having a few 'chats" (which lasted nearly three days) got them calm enough to sit in a re-enforced, furniture-less room. Eventually they talked and both were better for it.

Thor left for Asgard a month ago without Loki. He said he would return after doing his duties and talking his father out of punishing Loki. Loki, meanwhile, was quite content to stay where he was. Eager to learn he spent a lot of his time reading, going to museums and exploring the world. If he wasn't, he spent his time with Bruce and Tony in the labs. He is an invaluable assistant and partner in the labs now and happy to be appreciated for his intelligence.

Everything worked out. Not a single person who had started this journey thought that it was possible. Not a single person believed that it would end well for all of them. Yet they were here, happy, whole and a family. A group of misfits defeated an alien army, protected the world and continued to try and save it for years to come. Loki was quite happy to stay for as longs as he could. With his worshipper at his side and a family that was the personification of chaos he could not be happier.

All of this because of a silly writing assignment decades ago. Who could have guessed?

0~~~~~~~~~~0

Thanks for reading. Leave comments if you like. I always need inspiration to get off my ass and write more. Between college, life, and an ultra-needy cat (who is currently trying to eat off my plate . . . back off bitch!) I always forget that I have something in the works.

Ciao!


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